Designing Units with Student Choice, Real-World Problem Solving, and Technology Integration
By: Vince Fabella, Math Teacher & Technology Lead at Laguna Beach Unified School District Student engagement and technology integration are crucial components of effective teaching and learning, helping to promote interactive, dynamic, and creative problem-solving approaches that empower learners. Although the use of educational technology has increased significantly in recent years, there may be a temptation to abandon it in favor of traditional teaching methods. However, it’s essential to recognize that technology should be viewed as a tool to enhance instruction, rather than a substitute for effective teaching practices. Here, I’ll explore how Laguna Beach USD utilized the T3 Framework ...
Can AI Solve the Uniquely Human Challenges Facing Educators Today?
Author: Dr. Beth Holland, Partner, The Learning Accelerator Conversations in the education sector have converged in the past several weeks around three seemingly unrelated topics: pandemic recovery, educator shortages, and ChatGPT. Evidence suggests that schools continue to exist in a state of pandemic recovery, with students struggling academically and social-emotionally. At the same time, persistent staffing shortages make it difficult to meet students’ needs and reduce burdens on educators’ time. Despite initial trepidation, scarcity of resources could drive leaders and policymakers to the conclusion that AI and intelligent tutors like ChatGPT are “good enough” to address these challenges. However, ...
Unlocking Leadership Potential with Coaching
Dr. Bryanna Norton has been an educator for the last 19 years and is currently a Middle School Principal at Hidden Valley Middle School located in Escondido, California. Prior to her principal position she worked for the San Diego County Office of Education as a Coordinator of Human Resources coaching and mentoring administrators, and was also a Coordinator of the Designated Subjects Program that credentialed CTE and Adult Education teachers. She was also a High School Assistant Principal and high school teacher and coach. Her dissertation, The Essential Characteristics of Coaching that Secondary Principals Perceive Support Effective Leadership at ...
Inspiration from a Learner-Centered Classroom: 4 Ideas To Try This Year
High-impact practices and examples that foster agency and empower learners to flex their strengths and pursue their interests.
3 part series: How Portfolio School Designs for a Learner-Centered Experience Throughout the Year
Portfolio leaders and educators share how they engage educators and learners in the design, practice, iteration, and celebration of a learner-centered experience throughout their community all year long.
Spark Online Academy: Designing a Learner-Centered Online Public School
Colorado public school Spark Online Academy took the best of pandemic online learning and created a learner-centered, online school steeped in personal connection and engaging learning experiences. Read their story.
Forsyth County Schools: Fostering Learner Agency in a 3rd Grade Classroom
There are many powerful examples of teachers incorporating learner agency into their instructional frameworks. See how a 3rd grade teacher in at Vickery Elementary in Forsyth County Schools in Georgia grounds learning in choice and ownership.
The Role of Reading in Learner-Centered Education
Literacy is at the heart of learner-centered education. Uncover how reading supports four critical components of the learner-centered education and contributes to student success.
WestEd Altitude Learning Literature Review
This literature review provides an overview of best practices and common discourses that have shaped professional learning, with an emphasis on teaching that supports learner-centered practices. The literature reviews summarizes these findings by framing the goal of professional learning (PL) for learner- centered practices (LCP) as the development of focused, flexible professionals. These three themes— focused, flexible, and professionals—were encountered in various forms across the literature, and they provide a helpful framing for organizing our findings toward the goal of engendering learner-centered practices.
Supporting District Change Through Learner-Centered Leadership
The Moving Forward coalition formed to bring together and apply the best thinking and learning from the field in a way that accounts for compliance-related constraints, provides a convenient, one-stop-shop for SEA leaders, and delivers these services at a competitive rate while engaging experienced practitioners.
Supporting Statewide Change Through Virtual Course Access Models
The Moving Forward coalition formed to bring together and apply the best thinking and learning from the field in a way that accounts for compliance-related constraints, provides a convenient, one-stop-shop for SEA leaders, and delivers these services at a competitive rate while engaging experienced practitioners.
Supporting Statewide Change Through New Models for Remote Education
The Moving Forward coalition formed to bring together and apply the best thinking and learning from the field in a way that accounts for compliance-related constraints, provides a convenient, one-stop-shop for SEA leaders, and delivers these services at a competitive rate while engaging experienced practitioners.
Supporting Statewide Change Through Microgrants to Families
The Moving Forward coalition formed to bring together and apply the best thinking and learning from the field in a way that accounts for compliance-related constraints, provides a convenient, one-stop-shop for SEA leaders, and delivers these services at a competitive rate while engaging experienced practitioners.
A Question of Trust: The Arcadia Unified Better Together Project
Arcadia Unified School District Superintendent, David Vanasdall, was visiting classrooms and noticed that every student in a kindergarten classroom had produced the exact same piece of artwork. It struck him in that moment how the learning experiences in many cases were at odds with the aspirations that they shared as a community.
5 Reasons Every Learner Needs Project-Based Learning in Their Life
Real-world learning translates into real-world knowledge and skills. How can this type of contextual learning benefit your child?
5 Ways to Drive Student Agency with Goal-Setting
Enabling students to take control of their own learning is one of the most powerful results of a learner-centric education. We share five techniques for cultivating student agency.
Hawaii Public Charter Schools: Collaborating to Scale and Sustain Competency-Based Learning
Brought together by a shared vision to create a more expansive student transcript reflecting whole child learning, charter schools in Hawaii offer a glimpse into their process—from vision to implementation.
El Segundo Unified School District: Realizing Personalized, Student-Centered Learning
The El Segundo Unified School District (ESUSD) embraces innovative practice for student growth and empowerment. The District motto, Transforming Education for a Changing World, highlights a focus on the true transformation needed for students to be successful in a vastly different world than previously known. A member of the prestigious League of Innovative Schools, ESUSD is constantly seeking to learn, grow, and improve their practices to be a leader in education innovation.
